29th January, 2012
THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE/CANDLEMAS
Forty Days since Christmas
Sometimes the liturgical year which regulates our worship is precise, at other times not so. The feast we celebrate today, when Jesus’ parents brought him to the Temple in accordance with Jewish law (Luke 2.35), falls forty days after Christmas. In the cycle of Common Worship it brings to an end the series of feasts marking the early days and months of Jesus’ life. (The actual date of the feast is February 2nd but our calendar allows us to move it to the nearest Sunday.) From Candlemas onward our thoughts turn more and more toward Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week. The encounter of Jesus’ parents with Simeon the prophet speaks, on the one hand, of glory and light—recalling the Christmas Gospel from St John and Epiphany—yet, on the other, of the sword piercing the heart of Mary—looking toward her anguish at the foot of the cross (John 19. 25-7). A rich festival indeed. The booklet contains all you need for the service.
The sermon today concerns the sacrament of Ordination, and I will build upon the themes of ordination and vocation from last week’s sermon to help us grasp why the Christian Church has a ministerial priesthood within the ‘royal priesthood’ of all baptized and confirmed believers.
Sung Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer (1662) this Evening
At 5.30 this evening the last element of our new ‘Sunday Pattern’ begins: a celebration of the Prayer Book’s Communion service sung to the traditional setting of Merbecke and accompanied by choir anthems and hymns. The service will include readings and collects from the Prayer Book and the King James Bible, and will take inspiration in its execution from the ceremonies of Bp. Lancelot Andrewes and his early seventeenth-century contemporaries. This service is scheduled for fifth Sundays throughout the year.
Christian Formation and Faith Forum Next Sunday at 9.15 am
At next Sunday’s adult Faith Forum I will ‘unpack’ the idea of ‘sacrament’ in the Christian and Anglican tradition as a complement to our sermon series dealing with particular sacraments. A breakfast bar is available from 9.00 am in the Centre Hall
The Revd Charles Miller, Team Rector
THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE/CANDLEMAS
Forty Days since Christmas
Sometimes the liturgical year which regulates our worship is precise, at other times not so. The feast we celebrate today, when Jesus’ parents brought him to the Temple in accordance with Jewish law (Luke 2.35), falls forty days after Christmas. In the cycle of Common Worship it brings to an end the series of feasts marking the early days and months of Jesus’ life. (The actual date of the feast is February 2nd but our calendar allows us to move it to the nearest Sunday.) From Candlemas onward our thoughts turn more and more toward Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week. The encounter of Jesus’ parents with Simeon the prophet speaks, on the one hand, of glory and light—recalling the Christmas Gospel from St John and Epiphany—yet, on the other, of the sword piercing the heart of Mary—looking toward her anguish at the foot of the cross (John 19. 25-7). A rich festival indeed. The booklet contains all you need for the service.
The sermon today concerns the sacrament of Ordination, and I will build upon the themes of ordination and vocation from last week’s sermon to help us grasp why the Christian Church has a ministerial priesthood within the ‘royal priesthood’ of all baptized and confirmed believers.
Sung Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer (1662) this Evening
At 5.30 this evening the last element of our new ‘Sunday Pattern’ begins: a celebration of the Prayer Book’s Communion service sung to the traditional setting of Merbecke and accompanied by choir anthems and hymns. The service will include readings and collects from the Prayer Book and the King James Bible, and will take inspiration in its execution from the ceremonies of Bp. Lancelot Andrewes and his early seventeenth-century contemporaries. This service is scheduled for fifth Sundays throughout the year.
Christian Formation and Faith Forum Next Sunday at 9.15 am
At next Sunday’s adult Faith Forum I will ‘unpack’ the idea of ‘sacrament’ in the Christian and Anglican tradition as a complement to our sermon series dealing with particular sacraments. A breakfast bar is available from 9.00 am in the Centre Hall
The Revd Charles Miller, Team Rector